A Wall Street chief economist explains what could be the saving grace for mega-cap tech companies

Larry Hatheway is the chief economist and head of investment solutions at GAM. In this interview with Business Insider's Sara Silverstein, Hatheway talks about what's going on with tech right now and what it will take for things to turn around. Following is a transcript of the video.

Sara Silverstein: What do you think it will take for tech investors to regain the optimism that they had before all this uncertainty around privacy and Tesla, and what's going on right now?

Larry Hatheway: So, I think, first of all, the upcoming earnings season, it kicks off this month. We'll see all of these big companies report earnings. And many, not all of them, will probably report very, very strong earnings. And if it's not earnings, then at least it's growth, that is revenues. The likes of Amazon would fit in that latter category. There are, of course, some that face a specific company-related risk. So, Facebook obviously, around data privacy and data protection, and Tesla, around some of the issues with autonomous driving and several other issues that are specific to that company. So that tide may not lift all the boats, as it were, but I do think most of them will end up surprising now, lowered earnings expectations for the first quarter, and that's gonna help stabilize their share prices.

Silverstein: And what do you think the outlook is for Amazon, now that Trump has come off and is attacking them?

Hatheway: Well, I think for Amazon, it probably doesn't really change much about that business model. It is a model that is based on capturing market share in the largest and most important market in the world, which is the consumer's wallet. They're well on their way to being able to do that. They are paying state taxes, it's not really an issue that revolves around taxation. And there's actually very little that the federal government, and in particular, that The White House, can do about those aspects of it. So my sense is that this is a sort of a sound and fury that will probably abate, and be replaced by some other issue going forward. And that although Amazon will obviously have to be cognizant of events in Washington, has to obviously watch its steps there, and certainly has to watch at some point in the future around antitrust types of activity. In general, I think its business model looks intact.